$140,000 in Prizes Awarded to Early-Stage Education Entrepreneurs

The University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE) and the Milken Family Foundation announced the winners of the sixth annual Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition (EBPC) today. Winning ideas included platforms to connect parents with teachers, apps to provide personalized lesson plans for students with special needs, and programs to keep low-income students on track to finish college.

Today’s grand prize winners include:

Venture Path

Grand Prize: $40,000

Kinvolved, of Brooklyn, NY, an app facilitating two-way text and email communication among members of students’ support networks. Kinvolved currently reaches 30,000 students in 135 schools across the country, improving attendance, parental engagement and homework completion. The company aims to be working in half of all schools in the U.S. by 2020.

Idea Path

Grand Prize: $10,000

Yenko, of Brooklyn, NY, a mobile-first platform using real-time academic performance and financial data to help low-income college students stay on track for graduation.